Theater group invites GRCC board to performance following criticism over play featuring nudity

Joe Worth, left, and Jeffery Williams perform as Gregory Mitchell and Buzz Hauser during a dress rehearsal of Love! Valour! Compassion! at the Actors' Theater in downtown Grand Rapids on Wednesday, September 18, 2013. MLive

GRAND RAPIDS, MI - In the wake of public criticism over a play it staged featuring male nudity, a theater group housed at Grand Rapids Community College is inviting the school’s Board of Trustees to attend its next production.

Actors’ Theatre, which is funded in part by GRCC, sent a letter last week to the seven member board asking it to attend its upcoming production, “Venus in Fur,” which opens on Dec. 12. The invitation was extended to create a dialogue and ensure that the board has an opportunity to judge for itself the work performed by the group, said Debbie Playford, managing director of Actors’ Theatre.

“We want to be open,” she said. “We’re not ashamed of what we do at all. We think it’s great theater.”

Last week, two residents spoke out against Actors’ Theatre because its recent performance of the play “Love! Valour! Compassion!” featured male nudity. They argued it was wrong for a group that receives public funding to stage such a performance.

“Love! Valour! Compassion!” follows a group of eight homosexual males who gather three times over the summer at the home of a Broadway choreographer and his blind partner. It dives into topics such as AIDS, infidelity, love, friendship and features one male character “who’s nude for a good portion of the play,” according to an MLive review.

The free invitation sent to the board also was extended to the residents who criticized Actors’ Theatre. The residents who spoke out against the performance of “Love! Valour! Commpassion!” did not see the play, but rather read reviews or heard about it through friends.

Playford said she respects the view of residents who complained about the play. But she said it’s disappointing that the residents didn’t see the play before complaining because the production was about more than nudity.

“We would love for them to come and create a dialogue,” she said. “It is hard to have a good conversation if they haven’t seen the show. It’s almost impossible to have a dialogue about the merits of the show if they haven’t seen it.”

“Venus in Fur” is a play about a director searching for an actress to play the lead role in an adaptation of the 19th century erotic novel, “Venus in Furs,” according to Actors’ Theatre. Along the way, the play “turns into a seductive battle for power” and a “tango for dominance between actress and director, woman and man.”